Life Under the Lights - Latest Comments

Re: Six Tricks You Can Use Today to Improve Your EMS Narrative Report

Mamamedic305 — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:39:21 -0000

Excellent article!

Re: Heat Emergencies for EMS – The Summer Time Blues

Zina Sem — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:41:59 -0000

Hi, I'm writing an article about heat stroke treatments and would love to use your picture of the heat exhaustion / heat stroke (above). Please let me know if that would be possible, you and your website would be fully credited.

Thanks!

Zina Semenovskaya, MD
zina.sem@gmail.com

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Steve MacDougall — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:02:48 -0000

Even though there weren't many, I pulled all of the patches from my personal collection and am sending them to you. They'll serve a much better purpose now and I hope that they help brighten Noah's days ahead. Keep the fight going Noah!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

D P Dennis — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:09:41 -0000

Brothers are we all. We are that thin line be it red or blue occasionally it turns a bit of both not quite red not quite blue. From brothers in NYC a few patches you will see. Remember one foot in front of the other with your head held high, if you stumble reach out and one of us your brothers and sisters will be there to grab onto and pull you through. We'll do it because that's what we do.

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Mike Walters — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:09:35 -0000

I have collected about a dozen patches and they are in the mail.

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Jerryemt — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:57:02 -0000

A Brotherhood that knows no boundaries.... patches from Calgary Alberta ! Get well, we are cheering for your recovery!!!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Jose Olivencia — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:57:36 -0000

I have a good friend who lives in Durand. That will hand deliver a package to your Fire Department. containing a few patches. Good luck with your project.

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Clpvfd — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:06:22 -0000

Patch from Conneaut Lake Park VFD in the mail for you today! You all will be in our thoughts and prayers!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Cindy and Walter — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:53:54 -0000

Wishing you a successful recovery. It is always just one step at time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Best wishes to you from our emergency services family from Ontario, Canada.

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Willrob41 — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:49:04 -0000

Patches are on the way from Tyler Texas. I don't know the person who these are for, that don't matter. He ia a part of our large EMS and Firefighter family, and when one of our family needs help we need to pull together. I truly hope for a speedy recovery and willl also be sending prayers as well. God bless you and keep you during this time.

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Kayla — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:27:04 -0000

Keep hanging in there, buddy!! You are loved by so many and supported by thousands. You are doing an amazing job but you have to keep it up. You are a fighter and you have always been a fighter!! I'll never forget all the times we had riding the school bus together from young ages to all the times in school. You have always been there for anyone who needed help and now it's all our turn to be there for you. Keep fighting buddy!! I'm trying to make plans to come see you again!! Hopefully you're awake this time!! Love ya buddy!! Fight to live, live to fight!!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Stephen — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:18:10 -0000

Noah,
I remember going through EMT class with and all the stupid stuff we all would do, and quite a few fire calls too. You always made the most boring parts of the class fun. Though I no longer live in Illinois my thoughts and prayers are with you. There will definitely be some patches coming from the State of North Dakota. Hang in there Brother, you are a fighter and a HERO.

Stephen Lawrence

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Fireman_emt — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:51:06 -0000

Patches are on the way from Mason Co. Michigan... Thoughts and prayers being sent for all impacted by this!!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Marilyn Porlier — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:45:25 -0000

I've got a few here i'll be sending your way!

Re: A Quilt Made From Patches – Help a brother out.

Joetnymedic — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:20:39 -0000

Noah,
You hang in there and kick some ass my friend. Patches are on the way with a little something else for you too. We're all one big family and we're there for ya. Bill, Thanks for putting this out there and I forwarded to all of my former partners and co-workers also and I know they'll help out too. CT and NY are pulling for you Noah. I also enclosed my conntact info, I don't care what time day or night if you guys need me I'll be there.

Joe

Re: EMS 12-Leads – The Standard of Care

Mini Medic — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:06:49 -0000

Question: Do most of your readers know how the correct lead placement for a right-sided 12-lead?

A useful way to remember what NOT to give nitro to: "Don't give nitro to AIR!"

Re: Vive la solidarité! Something we have in common with our French friends

Owenscott — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:42:16 -0000

I believe Baltimore tried the DR in the Rescues in the ?? early 80's??. Think it was found to make insignificant out6comes vs cost.

Re: Coming Soon – The Law of Unintended Consequences meets the fire service

Shane — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:07:16 -0000

I think the bigger issue is the fact fire service has become closer to being obsolete than EMS at this point. Hard to imagine? But true.

Over the last 100 years fire service has become more efficient, public education has increased, and building codes have increased safety and viability of structures so fire doesn't have the devastating consequences it did over 100 years ago. As a result, the fire trucks sit more but you're still paying union wages for those guys to work.

So what do they do? They take over ambulance districts. Why? EMS can go out and make money. Fire and police take tax dollars to run. EMS services, when they are political subdivisions of cities and counties can as well but they have the capacity to offset their cost with patient revenue. Fire departments are learning this and using their already paid people to help offset the cost of doing business by taking ambulance calls.

You aren't going to get insurance companies to pay these kind of fees. They simply are going to pass that cost on to the customer and that's going to be it. If fire services needs to make money they need to look internally at what's costing them. Is it equipment? Probably some. Is it infrastructure? Without a doubt that's part of it. But what is the biggest cost of any public service agency? People and benefits.

Re: Six Tricks You Can Use Today to Improve Your EMS Narrative Report

Sandyzbeech21 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:44:47 -0000

I enjoyed the article. However your counting isn't as good as your grammar ;)

Re: EMS 12-Leads – The Standard of Care

Christopher — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:36:58 -0000

Amen! North Carolina allows it at the EMT-B level and with a grant from the Duke Foundation they are working to roll out 12-Lead ECGs for every 911 service in the State.

We just began acquiring them on my BLS industrial fire brigade (with a locked-out Philips MRx) and in the neighboring county a large number of the BLS rescue squads already acquire 12-Leads.

At this point the 12-Lead ECG has become the standard of care for EMS and really should be one of our baseline "vital signs". At some point we need to integrate our cardiac monitors and our ePCR systems so that we can compare old ECGs in the field. But I digress....

Re: Hypocritically Speaking – My opinions about EMS models and philosophies

Too Old To Work — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:55:19 -0000

A couple of thoughts about French EMS.

First what is the liability situation for physician triage over there? Over here, you are rarely going to get a doctor to tell you NOT to come in for a look see. There is really only so much that can be done on the phone.

Second, for those who think it's a great idea to have doctors on the ambulances, I'd suggest you ask the Princess of Wales how that worked out for her. Oh, you can't because a physician on an ambulance farted around long enough for her to bleed out from a survivable injury. If she had been transported to something like a Level 1 trauma center, she likely would have survived.

Re: Hypocritically Speaking – My opinions about EMS models and philosophies

Too Old To Work — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:52:09 -0000

Well said, Greg. The few studies done have pretty much all shown that paramedics are poor at deciding who needs to go to the hospital and who doesn't. One of my former medical directors never worried much about an ALS crew sending a patient in via BLS because the patient was still going to end up in the hospital. He was far more worried about residents sending patients home where there was no medical care to be had.

Primary care paramedic bumps right up against the scope of practice of visiting nurses. If there is a need for that type of service, it more appropriately belongs to NP and PAs, not paramedics.

Re: Heat Emergencies for EMS – The Summer Time Blues

Too Old To Work — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:40:59 -0000

Ice packs and IV fluids are unlikely to help with Heat Stroke. Soaking the patient in cold fluids is the best treatment. Wrapping a patient in a sheet soaked with cold water and ice will rapidly cool them. Just be careful to monitor their airway.

The patient should be cooled to 102 degrees for best effect, not cooler.Any temp over 102 should definitely be treated.

Re: Hangover Heaven? WHY ARE WE NOT DOING THIS!?!?

Rescue Monkey — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:22:40 -0000

We have been doing this for much longer than you like to admit (everyone remembers giving a coworker an IV with fluids to alleviate hangovers).

Why aren't we doing this in the field? Too many medical directors would not allow a paramedic to treat a patient and then release them to the world. To state this bluntly, lawyers are the reason. The litigious nature of our society, which allows ambulance chasing lawyers to remain in business.

Should we be doing this? That's debatable, but it is a great idea. Resources many not permit many services to offer this (and the lack of imagination in billing).

Re: Hangover Heaven? WHY ARE WE NOT DOING THIS!?!?

CH — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 01:14:42 -0000

A great excuse to get the MAB on the road!